Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister recognises this project is shovel-ready. We are ready to spend any money the Government can give us in south Kildare. The model school and Athy food hub project is an exciting project in that regard.

I acknowledge the role played by Kildare County Council by putting €2.5 million of its own money, as well as gifting the building of the model school. It needs much work but it is a fantastic process. Jacqui McNabb in the Kildare local enterprise office has done huge work on this application. It has identified 60 zones to be strategic economic drivers for our area.

Driver No. 1 is a skills hub with a 16-station learning and demonstration kitchen to be completed as part of a learning and nurturing environment. A key component of the mid-east regional plan is that it involves the likes of the Boyne Valley food hub for collaboration and its expertise. Driver No. 2 is the timeshare incubator kitchen for culinary entrepreneurs in the area. Driver No. 3 is high specification food production units and commercial kitchens. We have the AgTech start-up accelerator hub for entrepreneurs in the area. This draws on the good local rural area. There will be a co-working zone and a community food discovery centre employing business development managers and food specialists. This is an exciting project which I hope we can support.

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